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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Kelli and I are so brave, so confident and secure about ourselves that we can show you these pictures. Now brace yourselves. They aren't pretty. You've been warned.

Before Texas humidity...

After Texas humidity!!!

Note the Texas oil well look on our faces. So pretty and shiny!

So, that's why the folks from Dallas looked like this!

Kelli and her husband Dennis, drove me to Padre Island where we walked along the beach and collected shells. I kept seeing these strange blue balloon-like things all over the beach and had no idea what they were. They were odd looking. I bent down to pick one up when Kelli told me, "Ummm, you might not want to do that. Those are jellyfish." Duh! The beach was covered with jellyfish! It was really neat. The only jellyfish I've seen have been on SpongeBob and they're always pink. How should I know those blue balloons were jellyfish? Amazingly I didn't step on any (because of course, I was barefoot). It's a good thing too because Joey Tribiani wasn't around to pee on my foot.

A gift shop that looks like a cool sand castle

Another gift shop - you walk through the mouth to get inside. I guess you get vomited out when you leave.

the beach

jellyfish

bird

a little crab

Remember the black hole at my house? The one where all my lost items go? Well, I today I learned where the black hole empties out! At the beach on Padre Island!

a lightbulb covered in barnacles

looks like another jellyfish, but it's a balloon

a big drum of something or other

motor oil

Now I'm told that the beach is lovely during the summer and it isn't littered with garbage that's washed ashore. It's really sad to see all the junk that ends up in the ocean.

Check out the road! It looks like it goes up and then just drops off the face of the earth!

Check it out! They have Jack in the Box too! We don't have those anymore. Oh and I apologize to the many angry readers who pointed out my horrible, grievous error. I'm sorry for saying we don't have Sonics in IL. Apparently southern IL does. Who knew?

Don't feel bad about the Sonics. We saw our first one on a road trip in Utah, and ate there thinking it was a cool one-of-a-kind throwback, and how lucky it was that we found this great place with the old-fashioned good food. Before long, we started noticing that they were everywhere.

Oh, LUCKY you!!!! I lived close to Corpus Christi as an exchange student for a year in 1991. I miss Corpus! Have fun, hope the sun comes out, and make sure you get to see some flowering cactus if the flowers have started this early! :-) Sol from Norway

I've been meaning to say: "Welcome to Texas!" I wish the weather could be nicer for your visit, but if you're here long enough that should change. ^_^

I've been to that sandcastle gift shop! Isn't it the coolest looking building ever? And I don't think I've ever been more tense and nervous than the day I had to drive over that bridge! If you're afraid of heights it's best to let someone else do the driving. LOL

Now I'm hungry for Sonic and Jack in the Box! And is that a CiCi's Pizza next to Jack? (Homer Simpson voice) Mmmm, Pizza!

My sister's a winter Texan, and I've visited her a few times there and gone to South Padre Island. I've been to ALL those places you've pictured (Except the Jack-in-the-Box). Those gift shops are real tourist traps, aren't they?

I am glad you are having a good time! Its funny I am a Texan Native (North Texas-east of Dallas) and have been down to Corpus and Padre a few times,but its always neat to see it through the eyes of a visitor!! I took my hubby down there this past summer and he enjoyed it. Love the big hair! I suggest you invest in hairspray!!! LOL I enjoy your blog,and I tell everyone about it!! Have fun!! Couldnt you have brought the snow with you????

and now you know why we have big hair in texas. it's not because we want to it's b/c we have no choice! :) thanks for the pics of padre. we are supposed to go there in september. now i'm so not looking forward to it. might as well just go to galveston. they look the same...gross.

Do you find yourself saying dumb stuff, out of habit, as if the kids were there? "Oh, look, an airplane!" "See the horsie?" I do that and it's very embarrassing. I mean, the adult(s) I'm with don't care about the horsie.

I just read the comments from yesterday and I just have to point out something-somebody said they lived near Vandalia, IL the originial state capitol. I am from Vandalia so I have to say that actually we are the second state capitol. The first state capitol was Kaskaskia which got washed away in a flood.

i'm sure a hundred people have already told you, but that jellyfish was actually what's called a Portuguese Man-o-War. It's a good thing you didn't step on it or pick it up, those things have a nasty sting. I used to play with the sand dollar jellies when I was little, but they don't have sting to them. Just puffy clear jelly-ness to them.

I live in Oklahoma the home of Sonic so now you know why Oklahoma City the fattest city in the US. Although who could drive by a sonic and not stop in for their favorite treats. It is like legal crack.

Wow, blue jellyfish in Texas?! I've been to Mexico and I saw jellyfish washed up on the beach there, but they were a greyish clear color. Not nearly as cool. I'm jealous! And also very glad that you didn't touch them.

To the poster who asked about the jelly fish and what happens if you touch them. Nothing if you touch their bodies. It's their tentacles (sp?) that are bad mojo. They will sting the snot out of you. Talk about hurt!!! By the way, if you ever do get stung, if no one will pee on you - you can rub tobacco (cigarette innards) on it and it will help take the sting out. So will Witch Hazel, but, um, who takes that to the beach? :) As for whether or not they're alive - I think they can live for a while outside of the water - but either way, you don't want to come into contact with those things. They're fierce!

Yes, Portugese Man o' War are blue, jelly fish are pink. We have them in Florida too. The tentacles are the nasty part, they sting even after death.As for hair, in Florida we either cut it short or grow it long and put it up.And on Survivor, Kathy had to pee on John's(?) hand when he got stung by a jelly fish, thus the memorable line -"I need someone to pee on my hand!"In Florida we use meat tenderizer, sprinkled liberally.Henny in W. Palm.

As a transplanted Texan (I got here as fast as I could, y'all!) I can tell you the only thing I have found to fight the frizz is BioSilk. The only problem is, it is a dangerous thread between pretty, shiny, calm hair and looking like you forgot to shampoo for the last, oh, seven or eight years. After many, many bad hair days I have finally figured out how to get my hair to cooperate with me when I really need it to. The rest of the time I just understand that I live in the Great State of Texas where everything is bigger, especially my hair, and just let 'er fly!

Am I the only one who got jealous seeing Dawn and Kelli's poufy-from-humidity hair? I have flat hair. Really, really flat hair. With an imperceptible curve (it's not even a curl). When I'm in humidity (not too often here in southern Arizona) my hair gets a slighly perceptible curve. This happened even when I lived in Dallas for a year and a half.

The "blue jellyfish" aren't man-o-war they are called blue bottles over here, and although they give you a nasty sting they won't kill you like the man-o-war or box jellyfish do. Here is Australia I think we are blessed(?) with a large percentage of all the poisonious creatures which live on the earth & its oceans.

I'm so glad your having a good time here in Corpus Christi. At least your hosts are showing you the better parts of town ;)! The humidity right now is nothing - come back in 3-4 months when it gets worse! Then you'll see some REAL hair in need of a hat!!

Only 3 pictures came through for me. :( The shark, light bulb, and motor oil. Can you post again? Or maybe it's my computer...except I did get those 3, so I don't know. If you get a chance (with 6 kids, yeah, right!)please re-post. Thanks!

I think I could handle the hair friz and the jellyfish vs. the cold, the snow and the rain! WE HAVE a solid 2-3 inches now in the driveway and streets. Mind you I live on a BIG old Wisconsin hill and I've been watching people slide down it all day. Why on earth people think they can drive their cars on ICE and uphill is beyond me.

Love Tricia's comment - do not fight the frizz; embrace the frizz! That's so true! But Herstorygirl is right - New Orleans is worse. I can handle my hair at home in Houston/Galveston, but I went to New Orleans and looked like Monica when the Friends went to Mexico!

Loved seeing Padre Island through your eyes, Dawn...I would have been looking at the exact same things, except I would have been wondering what that blue drum had in it.

Those are beautiful blue jellyfish! In the Puget Sound of the Pacific Northwest, we had these yucky clear-colored jellyfish that looked like ginormous raw eggs minus the shell...complete with big yellowish yolk-looking things in the middle. Those things used to creep me out.

Thanks for the pictures. Corpus is home and I haven't lived there for 5 years because of the military. My first job was at that sand castle gift shop, but before they built that part on it. Used to just have a huge shell hanging out in front of a regular building. The Jack in the Box being in town is pretty new, too. Sure miss that place. Also, don't know how long you're in town, but if you want some awesome Mexican food.. go to Kiko's on, I think it's, Everhart Rd. and order their special that has everything. Good prices, too.

I have pictures of SPI in the summer. I could not find a link to email you them. Sorry! Find me on myspace at dawna9375 out of Spring, Texas if you wish to see them.Absolutely beautiful...it's not jamaica, but it's probably as close as I will ever come.

I have to say, I go to the eastern shore every year (Maryland, SC, NJ, etc.) as I live fairly close to the ocean, and I have not seen blue jellyfish like that before, ours are pink kind of like the ones you see in Finding Nemo - cool looking though, glad you posted a picture!

I'm totally jealous of your trip to Cc and Padre Island!! Its been about 10 years since I've been there and it sounds like the perfect place to be right now...I can't wait for the snow to go away, last I heard we'd got 45 inches so far this season.